Development of graphene oxide/biobased polymer hybrid composite aerogels for carbon dioxide capture

• Main Author: Co, Clarence Joseph U.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5179
• Institution: De La Salle University

The increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere remains and will continue to be a global problem. Unless coal and other fossil fuel combustion activities are halted in the near future, carbon dioxide emissions will continue to add pollution unless other means are sought. Current carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology today makes use of liquid absorbents which are not only expensive but also energy-intensive. Solid adsorbents are now the study of interest, and in this study, a PEI-impregnated graphene oxide/bio-based polymer hybrid composite aerogel (HCA) was investigated for its CO2 adsorption properties. This material makes use of an environmentally-friendly material combined with a promising nanomaterial with the aim of producing an excellent CO2 adsorbent. The PEI-impregnated HCAs were successfully synthesized as verified by several characterization methods. There are two factors varied in this experiment, the GO concentration (0-20%) and PEI loading (0-100%), as well as two responses, adsorption capacity and kinetics. A central composite design was used. The optimal condition was at 20% GO and 8.64% PEI, giving equal importance to the two responses. Confirmation runs verify the validity of the model. Cyclic stability runs show increasing adsorption capacity which may be due to morphological changes in the material as a result of heating. The effect of temperature may have also been affected by the increased adsorption capacity, as the adsorption capacity remained constant when it theoretically should have diminished. Preliminary studies involving moisture show that the addition of moisture in CO2 caused an abrupt increase in adsorption capacity. However, it cannot be determined what portion of the adsorbed gas consisted of CO2 and what portion was water vapor. Further studies are recommended in this regard.